5 month old puppy advice!

H

HoneysMummy

Forums Novice
Hi everyone!

I am a first time dog owner and just took home my little girl Honey last Friday. We have been doing well, but having a hard time potty training. I just don't see any "pee cues" from her; she does do poo cues and she hasn't gone poo inside in a few days (because I catch her, not because she goes to the door). I take her out when she gets up, after meals, naps, playtimes and when she cries a bit to see if she has to go pee but often there is nothing happening. any advice about puppies at this stage??

She is also running away from me when she sees I have the leash in my hands to go outside (we need the leash to go potty as I don't have a fenced in yard). I try treats and just sitting and waiting for her to come to me but 98% of the time she will not come if that leash is present. Any way to get her to "love her leash"? My parents sheltie freaks when he sees the leash because he knows it's walk time, she does NOT although she does like her walks.

Any other advice about 5 mo. old shelties should be appreciated! She's a real sweetheart, and we are starting obedience classes next week as well :)
 
For potty training, if you monitor them very carefully early on, it will save you a lot of trouble and cleanup later on. Shelties tend to catch on quick and housetrain easily.

We followed these instructions to the letter. http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/errorless-housetraining Ian Dunbar is great. (I like his emphasis on liver treats. Buffy's equivalent is cheese or chicken.) Yes, the crate is worth it. Buffy was mostly housetrained by 5 months.

As for the leash, maybe upgrade the treat you have when you grab her? I tended to grab Buffy when she wasn't looking so it didn't turn into a game of tag.

By the way.... welcome! Do you have pictures of your pup?
 
I wanted to start by saying congratulations on your new pup and welcome to the forum.

I have always taken my new pups out every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. When they go potty big party with high praise and treats. They usually have caught on very quickly with very few incidents. I understand that would be hard if you work but that is what has worked for me.
 
Just wanted to say congrats on your little one! I am actually in the same boat as you; first time dog owner, and got our little guy (now almost 7 moths old) 3 weeks ago. We are also still working on the potty training. Here is what we have been doing, most of these tips have come from other people on this forum. The first couple days we had him in an exercise pen, but i think it was to much space for him bc he kept peeing in it. we would take him out about every 2 hours and we would give him like 30 minutes to pee and nothing would happen. then within like 2 minutes of coming inside, he would pee on the floor. :dead: So now that i have gotten some advice we do things differently, and it seems to really help! First off, when we take him outside, we only give him 5 minutes, whether he goes or not. after that, we come back in and he goes back into the crate for 15-20, then back outside for 5, and repeat till he goes. After we started doing this, it only took a couple days before he started going within a minute or two of going outside. We take him out first thing in the morning. then he comes back in to eat/drink. (any time he drinks we have to take him back outside -again- within maybe 15-20 minutes or we have an accident.) then after he has gone outside we let him play/roam around the apartment for 30-45 minutes, then back in the crate till it is time to go back outside. Doing it this way has helped a lot. he does still have an accident, every once in a while if i give him water then dont get him outside in time. Also, we got a doggie bell thing for the door yesterday, so we are trying to train him to ring the bell when he needs to go outside.
As far as the leash, we are having the same problem with Gizmo. Though we have taught him "sit" and when he actually listens to us, it makes it easier to catch him. Hope that helps, sorry it was so long!
 
We keep our 15 week old girl Sundae crated while we're out at work (no accidents in the crate at all!) and come home for lunchtime for some food, a piddle and a walk. After we're home from work she stays out with us until bedtime (when she's crated again).

We've had her since the beginning of August, and for the first few days there was NO cue. She would simply squat and go before you could even open your mouth to say "ah-ah". No sniffing or any indication and no time to "catch her in the act". Once she was settled in and eating well, we got better about getting her on a food/walk schedule and after about a week or so she started whining right before she squatted and we'd rush her out. Then we hung a bell on the door which we tapped with her nose every time we went out and now she runs to the front door, rings the bell and waits.

The only drawback at the moment is that now she runs to the door and attacks the bell whenever she wants to go outside (which is about every 15 minutes). We're working on that issue now by paying attention to her eating schedule and calling her bluff when we know there's no possible way she could need to go... It's been working so far.

Because we give Sundae a small treat every time she makes outside, she is anxious to get outside and has accepted that the leash is part of that routine. She played the "chase me" game with my husband for about a week (he would run after her making exasperated noises while she had fun running around) and then we found out if we open the door so she could see out of the storm door, she stays glued to the storm door pining to go out and we can get the leash on then without any fuss.

The crate has been a wonderful tool - if we don't crate her for part of the morning and part of the afternoon on the weekends, then it throws off her schedule and we have accidents.

Good luck!
 
Thanks everyone!

We have gone 4 days without an accident!!! Today was my first day going to work, so I put her in her crate for the day and she did so well! :) We started obedience school as well which is helping with leash training (need to upgrade the treats!), commands etc.

This site is such a great resource! Thanks to everyone who replied :)
 
Put light weight leash on the pup in the house and let him drag it around. Make huge party at the door/ goof, play with toys yourself, have a good time/, make huge party on the street- won't take long before pup wants to join in.
Don't ever call pup to you and then make them do something they don't want.
Susan Garrett program is on 3rd month now, it calls Puppy Peaks, program is about watching how doggie guru trains her pup Swagger to be great pet and future performance star. Signing up for one month allows you to have access to 3 months worth of puppy training, great community, learning experience.
 
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